


Every Breath A Memory In My Lungs

by alphayamergo



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, WandaVision (TV)
Genre: (Because Marvel Wouldn't Let Wanda Have Anything This Nice), Ambiguous/Open Ending, F/M, Fix-It of Sorts, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-07
Updated: 2021-03-07
Packaged: 2021-03-13 07:15:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,775
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29897556
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alphayamergo/pseuds/alphayamergo
Summary: Two weeks after Westview, the White Vision finds Wanda in the mountains of Sokovia.
Relationships: Wanda Maximoff/Vision
Comments: 5
Kudos: 162





	Every Breath A Memory In My Lungs

**Author's Note:**

> This _could_ still be canon-compliant, but it's not going to be because Marvel isn't going to let Wanda have anything as nice as hanging out with Vision in a nice mountain cabin.
> 
> I mention Rhodey as being the one to tell Wanda where Vision's body was and give her the deed to the house - I did this just because I figure he's probably in the best position to do so, out of all the Avengers. He was on the team with Wanda and Vision between AOU and CACW, so he knew them both, and survived the Snap, so he likely knew what happened to Vision, and wasn't returning the Infinity Stones/going home to family/etc.
> 
> Title comes from Illy's _Loose Ends_.

It took him two weeks to find her.

It wasn’t hard, in the end. Wanda was hurt and in pain, and she had no one left in the world. She had fled Westview for the only other place in the world she saw as home. Once he stepped foot in Sokovia for the first time since Ultron, it was simple to scan for the unique signature of Wanda’s magic and follow it into the mountains.

The sun was cresting over the horizon as Vision came to a rest at the shore of the lake. The dawn set the water ablaze, shining orange-red against the silhouettes of the mountain range. It was quiet, here. Not the bustle of Edinburgh, or the structured chaos of the Avengers compound, or even the chatter of New Jersey suburbs – quiet. There was only the quiet lapping of gentle waves against the shore, the soft breeze ruffling the long grass, and the distant cry of a jackdaw.

The cabin was on the other side of the lake, set against the mountains. Even Vision’s eyesight could barely make out the figure who sat at its front steps in any detail, even as she stood. Vision lifted off, drifting across the lake.

The last time he remembered seeing Wanda was in Wakanda. She had tried to kill him before Thanos could, tried to get between him and Thanos when that failed. The last he had seen of her was when Thanos had thrown her aside the moment before Thanos had torn the Mind Stone out of Vision’s skull. It wasn’t the last time that she had seen him, though. He didn’t understand what had happened in Westview, not really, not even with all of his computing power dedicated to puzzling it out.

He knew that he might not be the Vision that she wanted.

But, he reasoned, if Wanda had lost some of her memories and could not remember everything that they had seen together, he would not forsake her. She would still be Wanda, just as he was still the Vision she had known in Westview in all the ways that mattered.

He set down in front of the house. Wanda, still dressed in her pyjamas, took a step backwards, magic unfurling at her fingers. “It’s over,” she said, the tremor in her voice betraying her exhaustion and heartache. “Haywood is set to face trial. There’s no need for this.”

“Wanda,” said Vision. Wanda’s face shuddered, grief rippling over it with the sudden force of a tidal wave. “The Vision in Westview restored my memories. Once I regained them, I was restored the ability to make my own judgements and my own decisions. I don’t want to kill you, Wanda. I could never do that.”

The scarlet in Wanda’s hands blinked out. “Viz?” she whispered.

“I remember Wakanda,” said Vision. “Not Westview.”

Wanda nodded, tears gleaming in her eyes – but smiled. She walked forward and took his hands. She slid her left hand up his arm to rest against his cheek. As she did, the colour bled back into him, leaking from her hands and spreading across his body until he looked as he had – aside from the blue still lingering where the Mind Stone had been. “Hello,” she said.

Vision smiled. “Hello.”

Wanda stroked his cheek and said, “So you remember Thanos -?”

“Yes.”

“Has anyone told you what happened after?” asked Wanda. When Vision shook his head, she said, “With all of the Infinity Stones, Thanos snapped half of all life out of existence. After five years, the remaining Avengers were able to gather the stones and build a second gauntlet to snap us all back.”

“Us?” repeated Vision.

“I was snapped,” said Wanda, nodding. “Thanos tried to stop it, but we defeated him outside the Avengers compound – we lost Natasha, Steve, and Tony Stark. And you.”

“Wanda,” said Vision softly. She was friends with Sam and Clint as well, but the fight with Thanos had taken almost everybody she had.

“Rhodey gave me the deed to the house,” said Wanda. “It was perfect, Viz.”

“We could still go back there,” said Vision. “I’m sure that we could find a way -”

There were ghosts lurking just behind Wanda’s eyes as she shook her head. “That bridge has burned. This will have to be my home now.”

“There is still the Avengers compound, if you wished,” said Vision. “I’m sure that if you wanted, the remaining Avengers would take you.”

Wanda hesitated, longing in her eyes. Then she shook her head. “No. Even if you’re there now – the others won’t be. If they need me, then I’ll be there, but I can’t spend the rest of my life looking over my shoulder for ghosts.”

Vision turned to look over his shoulder, looking at the lake, the mountains. “This would not be such a bad place to grow old in,” he said.

“No,” said Wanda. He hadn’t noticed it until now, but she was no longer hiding her Sokovian accent. It layered each word, anchoring her here in these mountains in a way that she had never been in the Avengers compound. “No, it isn’t. Would you like to come inside?”

-

It was only that night, cocooned in bed and stroking her hair, that Vision said, “Tell me about Westview.”

Wanda went still in his arms, her breath hitching. She propped herself up on her elbow so she could meet his eyes and said, “You know that I can’t always control my magic. That I don’t always know what it will do.”

She had been calling her powers that all day: _magic._ She had never used that term to describe them before. Tony had called her a witch, once or twice, but only ever sarcastically: no one had ever truly thought of her powers as magic.

“I know, love,” said Vision.

“Rhodey was able to tell me where your body was just after Natasha’s memorial,” she said. “It was with SWORD, and they wouldn’t let me bury you. I opened the deed, and found the house you wanted us to grow old in. I was alone, and all I wanted was you.” She swallowed hard. “So I created you, and a world that we could grow old in.” As silence stretched through the dark room, she gave him a bitter smile. “It took me too long to realise what that world was costing everybody else.”

“Wanda…” He didn’t know where to begin. _What had it cost? You’ve never displayed power of that magnitude before; how? What was the world you built? Who was the woman you were fighting with?_

“When you came, and you fought…” Wanda stumbled over her words. “When you came into Westview, that was the end of it. The people were leaving. I closed the Hex for good. Westview will never want me there again.”

He pulled her back down gently and she nestled into his side. He kissed her forehead and said, “You did the right thing.”

“We had children,” said Wanda, her voice barely above a whisper. “In the Hex. It was like years passed in the Hex, even though it was only days. Their names were Billy and Tommy. Tommy was always acting before thinking, always moving, never could sit still or keep quiet. Billy was quieter, but he was the ringleader most of the time. You – the other you – named him, actually. After -”

“Shakespeare,” said Vision.

Wanda’s face lit up. “After Shakespeare, exactly.”

“They’re good names,” said Vision.

“They were good kids,” whispered Wanda. She buried her head into the crook of his neck, her face resting against his shoulder.

Vision had no memory of the children, and never would. They had existed only for a matter of days according to the normal passage of time – but the Vision that he had met in Westview had been just as much Vision as he was. If that Vision had been real, then the children were real, no matter how long they had existed according to the calendar. He had – or a version of him had – children, and he would never have the chance to meet them.

He bent his head to rest against Wanda, grieving the children he had never even had the opportunity to love.

-

Wanda told him more of the boys over the days that followed. She told him of how Tommy developed superspeed and promptly used it to get into mischief; of how the twins found a puppy and found a way around each and every one of their conditions (“ _We really should have clued into Billy’s powers when he aged himself and Tommy to meet our age restriction,” said Wanda with a frown_ ); of Billy’s sensitivity and kindness. When they went into town to pick up supplies, she trailed her fingers across video games and fantasy novels alike, her eyes sad.

“I suppose Billy wouldn’t even have been able to read any of these,” sighed Wanda, slotting a book back into place on its shelf.

“At ten, he still would have been able to pick up another language quickly,” said Vision. “The human mind is still quite malleable at that age.”

“I was so intent on living the suburban life in the shows I grow up on, I barely passed anything Sokovian on to them,” said Wanda. She stared around the marketplace and said, “They wouldn’t recognise this place at all.”

“You would have taught them,” promised Vision, leaning over to press a kiss to her forehead.

“I’m not sure how good I would have been as a teacher,” mused Wanda. She grinned at him, nose scrunching, and said, “I’m sure you’d have read a book all about how to raise bilingual children, though.”

Most of the supplies were for Wanda. Vision didn’t need food or drink, like Wanda, but he carried the bag of milk and groceries for her anyway. For himself, he bought an e-reader. There was something about the act of reading, of parsing each word and committing it to memory, that had enchanted Vision since his creation. He bought an e-reader to keep himself from cluttering Wanda’s cabin, then – while they still had access to wifi – he downloaded each book he had seen Wanda lingering over.

Back in the cabin, he read about boy wizards searching for philosopher’s stones and preteen demigods searching for lightning bolts and searched for a trace of his son.

The cabin wasn’t connected to any electricity grid, but that was hardly an obstacle for Vision. The next morning, he set about building solar panels for the roof and creating wiring for the house, ready to provide the house electricity without connecting it to anything official. Halfway through connecting two wires and a third stuck between his teeth, he heard Wanda behind him.

“Viz? What are you doing?”

Vision put the two wires down, spat out the third, and turned to look at Wanda sheepishly. “I wanted to play the games you would have bought for Tommy,” he explained.

“You wanted - ” Wanda broke off with a laugh. “If you want to get to know Tommy, Viz, you’re not going to do it indoors. Come on.” She held out her hand. Her hand was warm as he took it, and she led him out the front door.

“He would have loved to live out here,” said Wanda, as they walked out to the shore of the lake. The wing rustled the grass beneath their feet, daisies and wildflowers swaying in the gentle breeze. “Sokovia was a war zone when I grew up. I watched the American sitcoms with my parents, where the worst problems were the nosy neighbours and bosses coming for dinner and an overbearing mother-in-law, and I wished that we could have that life. For a while, in the Hex, I did have that life.”

She took a deep breath, gazing over the lake. “But Tommy would have loved it out here, in the mountains, in the wild. Not that this was our life – we didn’t get to come up here much. We lived in an apartment in the city. But Tommy would have loved the space to run as far as he wanted. He was cooped up in suburbia.”

“This place -” Vision looked out over the lake, over the mountains and the meadows and the glaciers. “It wouldn’t be a bad one to raise children in.”

“No, it wouldn’t be,” said Wanda, squeezing his hand. “Maybe -”

“Maybe what?” asked Vision, when she didn’t finish.

She shook her head. “Never mind.”

-

The cabin was quiet when Vision returned from his next trip into the city. It was true that the city, and the entire country, was still struggling after the dual disasters of Ultron and the Snap, but it was beginning to settle into a new peace. He still wished, sometimes, that they could go to the house he had found for them in Westview, but he was enjoying Sokovia: the paprikash from street vendors, the old buildings that made him feel younger than ever, the contrast between the bustling city and quiet cabin.

He set the bag on to the bench and turned to the bedroom, pushing the door and calling, “Darli -”

Wanda, seated several feet off the ground, surrounded by red runes painted in the air, a scarlet diadem holding her curls back from her face, squeaked and dropped the book she had been reading. Old and yellowed, it slammed against the ground with a heavy thud and didn’t move again. Wanda dropped to her feet, her dark red costume giving way to her regular hoodie. She reached out towards him. “Viz -”

“Wanda,” he said, stepping forwards and picking up the book, “what are you doing?”

Wanda stared at the book, her fingers trembling as if she was only just holding herself back from lunging for it. “Our children – they’re out there, and I need to find them.”

“You said that they only existed in the Hex,” said Vision slowly, looking down at the book.

“I thought that at first,” said Wanda. “But the more I studied, the more I could hear them. They’re scared and hurting. They’re screaming for me.”

“And you only hear them when you read from this book?” asked Vision.

“At first,” said Wanda. “Now I can hear them all the time. I need to find them, Viz.” She took a step forward, taking his face in her hands. “You can help me, and you’ll meet them. We can be a family again.”

“Where did you get this book, Wanda?” said Vision. Her eyes were shining with tears and desperation and _hope_ , but he couldn’t get past the dread that was creeping up his spine as he held the book.

“From Agatha,” said Wanda. “I’ve been using it to learn more about magic. Before I was just using it instinctually, but now I can cast actual spells, and soon I’ll be able to get Tommy and Billy back.”

Vision held the book in one hand and used the other to reach up and stroke Wanda’s cheek. “We’re going to need help, darling,” he said.

Wanda drew back. “Help from who?”

“You mentioned a Doctor Strange,” said Vision. “He might be able to help.”

“And if he can’t?” asked Wanda. “What will we do then? If he leaves our boys alone and in pain?”

“If our boys are in danger, then…” _Then I may follow you into the dark_ , thought Vision. He had never even met the boys, but they were his children, and even in those brief moments in Westview, he had seen how much his counterpart had loved them. To save those children, he would do anything. But that was still very far off. “Then we’ll cross that bridge if we come to it.”

“ _You_ ’ll help me, then,” said Wanda, stepping back in close to him.

Vision let the book fall to the floor, pulling her into his embrace. “Yes, my love. I’ll always help you.”

Wanda rested her head against his shoulder, and he took the moment to enjoy the peace. He didn’t know when they would be able to return to their cabin in the mountains, or if they ever would. He didn’t know what state they would be in if they returned, or if it would be them alone who did. These last few moments would be ones he would treasure in whatever ensued, he knew.

Wanda pulled away first, catching his hands and entangling their fingers. “New York, then,” she said. “If we’re going to the Sorcerer Supreme, then we’re going back to New York.”

To where it had started for them. Vision hoped it wasn’t where it would all end, too.


End file.
